Stewed pumpkin for supper

[zebra]

[george013]

I like them both, this one and in the other thread. They're story telling.
Where do you come from?

George

[Shadowman]

On this image the title suggests that the pumpkin is the subject but I believe the light and child dominate this composition; more so than the subject in An Ossetian Girl this thread.

[zebra]

Hi, George! I come from Russia, from a little nice village on the river Volga.
You are right when you say that my pics are storytelling, because that's exactly what I'm striving to do when I take pictures: I'm looking for scenes that can tell stories, so that one can foresee what is likely to happen next, pics that create a certain atmosphere.
Most of my photos depict rural life, like these:
Alone

Easter Egg

Tempest is coming

Promenades with the cat


I always experience great happiness when I succeed in conveying what I wanted to convey.

[zebra]

You may be right, I dunno.
I don't bother much what titles I give to my pics, the important thing for me is that they are titled so I can easily find what I want among my archives.
Usually, as I look at my new photograph, the title for it comes by itself without any effort on my part.

[george013]

Hi, George! I come from Russia, from a little nice village on the river Volga.
You are right when you say that my pics are storytelling, because that's exactly what I'm striving to do when I take pictures: I'm looking for scenes that can tell stories, so that one can foresee what is likely to happen next, pics that create a certain atmosphere.
Most of my photos depict rural life, like these:
Alone

Easter Egg

Tempest is coming

Promenades with the cat


I always experience great happiness when I succeed in conveying what I wanted to convey.

For me you succeeded with your intention.
Looking forward for more.

George

[lovelife65]

That is what photography is all about yes? Emotions and a story. Your work if fantastic.... just wonderful images. Thank you for sharing.

Hi, George! I come from Russia, from a little nice village on the river Volga.
You are right when you say that my pics are storytelling, because that's exactly what I'm striving to do when I take pictures: I'm looking for scenes that can tell stories, so that one can foresee what is likely to happen next, pics that create a certain atmosphere.
Most of my photos depict rural life, like these:
Alone

Easter Egg

Tempest is coming

Promenades with the cat


I always experience great happiness when I succeed in conveying what I wanted to convey.

[zen]

I agree. All great shots.

Thanks for sharing them with us.

Zen

[Manfred M]

You have a nice series of images here; this is the type of photography I like doing too. Let me give you a few thoughts on them:

1. Stewed pumpkin for supper - The tight cluster of the child, pumpkin and lamp are all nicely clustered together to make a single subject. That part works well.

I'm not quite sure why you decided to have such a heavy colour cast in the image. It reminds me of shooting film when the light source was tungsten light or even a fire burning. The lighting ratio is quite harsh and not usually used in images of children as they tend to look better in softer light (maximum 2:1 lighting ratio). I suspect that you have a lot of crushed shadow detail and blown out highlights in the image. A touch of fill light from the camera left side would not have been out of place.

2. Alone - I like this image the best of the group. The lighting is very good and not too harsh. I like the expression of the girl looking up; she is definitely focused on something up above her. The only (very minor) point is that I find that her toe is just a little too close to the bottom edge of the image. I tiny bit more space there would help.


3. Easter Egg - An interesting environmental portrait. This is a challenging shot to pull off. The scene is highly back-lit which means that your subject's faces are in shadow and the window behind them is quite bright and distracting. This is a situation where I would normally turn to using fill light. Dodging the back-lit areas can help, but the areas still look quite flat.

The other issue I wonder about is the focal length of lens that you were using. The woman's hands look disproportional large. I suspect that you did not have a lot of space to work in to get this shot.




4. Tempest is coming - I find this is the least interesting shot of the set. The house and the tree with the sky behind it are not all that interesting to look at. Having the girl look out the window does help, but is still not enough to make this shot work well.



5. Promenades with the cat - This is another shot that I like. You have good leading lines to draw the viewer into the image and the girl and cat walking along add to directing the viewer. The scene in the background is quite nice.

The only thing I wonder about is whether a bit of a crop on the left hand side of the image might not strengthen it some more. The bright grasses and sky there pull the viewer's eyes away from the path, so downplaying that would be worth considering.

[zebra]

I thank you, Manfred, for your critical remarks and thanks to lovelife65, zen and george013 for their kind words!